Michael Lee's Train of Thought

I liked reading this New York Times Article about the new Star Trek film.

As both a JJ Abrams fan and as someone who has a lot of fond Star Trek memories, I was looking forward to the new film. I had a chance to see the new movie last week -- and while I don't want to either review it here or get into spoilers, I was certainly very content with the film and am looking forward to seeing it again and think they've done a good job with something that had a lot of challenges.

Labels: jjabrams, movies, startrek

I can really only wish that this is true, but given the source one can't be sure. I'd love to see a photo of Barack Obama giving the Vulcan hand signal though...

Labels: politics, startrek

I didn't expect this -- apparently, they've pushed back Star Trek until May 2009 -- a whole half year later than we originally thought we would see it.

On one side, I'm sad to wait a little longer -- but at the same time, I think that the longer without Star Trek the better -- it's out of the public eye.

I suppose it's not a surprise that the end of the writer's strike would have these sorts of things come up. They say it's not because of the script -- and I believe that -- but it's probably because of how the whole movie market place changes with a quarter of no script activity.

And it'll make it even more eagerly awaited, I think...

Labels: movies, startrek

I can imagine wanting to bring important pieces of you into your funeral, but having a Star Trek themed funeral is a bit incredible.

But perhaps I'd be thinking about this differently if you could have a police box shaped casket. No, probably not.

Labels: startrek

One of the things that I was wondering is how much the new Star Trek film would be like other Bad Robot productions like Alias, Lost, and Cloverfield. And Star Trek -- as one of those large franchises -- is something that could have lots of obscure corners and things that are beyond just the movie.

I know that I want to see a JJ Abrams Star Trek film -- one that has the character and personality of the creator. I think that brings about the best sort of franchise work -- when it's not just putting something out there generically, but brings the talents of the people to play. That's what has worked with the better comic book adaptations -- and if you look at Star Trek as something similar to that, you should want that here as well.

But the NCC-1701 site -- where you have to dial in the shipyard cameras -- is one of the first real solid signs that we're going to have that same sort of fun, and a film isn't just a two hour trip to the movie theater, but an experience over a much longer period of time.

Labels: startrek

I'm surprised that it took this long for them to get out..

And I've got one comment, which given that it's a spoiler for the costume, I'll put it as the first comment on this post...

Labels: startrek

There are a lot of neat videos but also a nice story from JJ Abrams on AICN. I'm in a positive mood for JJ, after seeing Cloverfield and the Star Trek teaser -- and so it's neat to have little story like this as well.

I'll be curious to see how Star Trek is a JJ Abrams film -- my hope is that it can actually be his movie, as well as being a Star Trek film.

Labels: jjabrams, startrek

One of the interesting things about the Star Trek teaser is that it looks like this is actually trying to do the same thing that it looked like Enterprise was doing -- bringing something like the 1960s Star Trek into the present day.

I think there is certainly an open question about how accepting a fan audience would be to see a new cast play the same characters -- I'm happy with the cast, and I would like to see the definitive dream of a better future for mankind be revitalized for the present day.

You wonder if this will fall apart because it's tied to tightly to the original series -- Nimoy's involvement makes this a concern --- or that it'll end up so different than the Star Trek we have grown up with that it'll be difficult to accept. I don't think it's impossible to recast; after all, characters like James Bond and Batman are reguarly recast.

It'll be interesting to see -- I know I certainly plan to.

Labels: movies, scifi, startrek

I mean, Zacary Quinto as Spock? Awesome. But if the stories that Simon "Shaun of the Dead" Pegg is Scotty are true, this is all sorts of coolness. Simon's the real deal -- and he's One Of Us in the best sense, so I'm very optimistic about the movie. And Scotty is exactly the sort of role (especially if it's just one step up from a cameo) where casting someone with the geek cred that Simon Pegg has is ideal, especially if Kirk is mostly unknown.

And if it is in Variety, it's almost certainly true.

Labels: startrek

It's been confirmed in several locations now -- and I'm thrilled that retroactively Heroes can become even more the geekiest show ever, by not only having Sulu, a Doctor Who, a Master, and Malcolm McDowell but now a future (or is that a past) Spock in Zachary Quinto.

I'm very content with this casting -- Zachary Quinto proved to be a fantastic actor in Heroes, showing quite a wide range so he should be more than capable to play Spock. I'm a little concerned that including Leonard Nimoy as well in the film will make this a bit too backward looking -- making some of the same mistakes as the last Superman film made -- but we'll see.

Labels: heroes, movies, startrek

I'm quite happy to see that Michael Giacchino is going to do the soundtrack for the next Star Trek film. It's not really so much because of his work on television shows like Lost and Alias, but instead his fantastic soundtrack for The Incredibles, which is the greatest James Bond soundtrack never written.

One of the sad things about Star Trek soundtracks after The Next Generation is that they're very bland. But the original 1960s soundtracks of the original Star Trek are a vital part of the series. The "Amok Time" theme is recognizable in a few notes; and the Star Trek fanfare is one of the most distinctive franchise themes.

If the new Star Trek film is a back-to-basics story with Kirk and Spock, the soundtrack can be a key piece that connects this new film to the classic original series. And if Michael Giacchino's soundtrack for The Incredibles is any indication, he'll be more than capable of making a solid Star Trek soundtrack.

Labels: soundtracks, startrek

I was watching the commentary for the awesome Heroes episode Company Man today, and besides being really impressed with how the NBC site has their on-site commentary tracks visualized, I realized who they need to cast at some point to absolutely prove that they're making this show for me. Mark Hamill. They've hired someone from Star Trek (George Takai). They've had both The Master (Eric Roberts) and The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). Malcolm McDowell starts soon.

So all they need to do to win Geek Bingo is for them to cast someone from Star Wars, and Lost apparently has Billy Dee Williams coming up. [see Lost Spoilers if you want]. So Mark Hamill it is.

Labels: doctorwho, heroes, lost, startrek, starwars

Ok. Considering Christopher Eccleston's rumored casting on Heroes is listed as a rumor on the "official" unofficial Heroes site. maybe there is some truth to it. There's a lot of interesting speculation out there as far as what sort of character he could be playing. Is he a good guy? A bad guy? A character that we've already heard about? Sylar?, or Mr. Linderman?

In other amusing news on the 9th Wonders site, they're reporting that George Takai is going to appear as Hiro's father. I'm more than a bit amused if the we're getting casting from a primary actor from both Doctor Who and Star Trek announced during days of each other.

While digging around for more information and gossip about these casting I've also discovered a Heroes Wiki -- I think the Wiki format works really well for shows like Heroes or Lost.

Labels: doctorwho, heroes, startrek

Wil Wheaton is now reviewing Next Generation episodes on TV Squad starting with The Naked Now

If I was ever to write a biography for Wil Wheaton, it would be this: When Star Trek: The Next Generation aired, we all hated Wesley Crusher because he was clearly One Of Us. Two decades later, we all like Wil Wheaton because he is clearly One of Us.

Labels: startrek

Happy 40th Anniversary of Star Trek.

It's especially interesting that now that we're at the 40th Anniversary there is definitely more of a recognition of how unique the original series really was going on out there than I've seen in quite a while. The "special edition" versions of the original series promise to bring the original series back onto broadcast television in as big of a fashion as I can remember since my childhood.

My memories of the original series was as a regular part of weekend afternoon television, timed perfectly to watch during lunch.

The influence of Star Trek is seen as part of our daily life -- today's mobile phone is certainly not that far off of Star Trek's communicator, after all.

Star Trek returns in its remastered format in Minneapolis, Minnesota on KSTC 45 on September 16th at 6:00 PM.

Labels: startrek

I had figured that it would be Bryan Singer, actually, but seeing JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof up for a Star Trek film doesn't really surprise me once I think about it. It's obviously very early days -- and I've got the same view as I did a couple of years ago before Doctor Who returned -- I'll believe it for real once cameras roll...

But still, as a fan of Alias and Lost, I could be ok with them behind a new film. Though I'm not sure if a Kirk/Spock prequel is going to be the right way to go... but we'll see..

Labels: doctorwho, lost, startrek, television

In my perfect world, this would happen.

It might be a little too soon for a new Trek, but I'd love to see a Bryan Singer Star Trek. He's ably demonstrated that he understands what makes great SF franchises work. (Well, at least based on what I've seen of Superman Returns so far...)

One of the things that interests me is the difference between movie story telling and television storytelling... Star Trek sometimes works in both realms... but frequently hasn't. (I think Doctor Who would make a very poor film franchise, it's a television series concept, not a film concept.)

Labels: startrek

It's interesting -- the same week will see the end of two eras -- the end of Enterprise and an eighteen year run of weekly Star Trek, and with The Revenge of the Sith, the end of the Star Wars film franchise.

I don't think anyone believes that either franchise will go away forever -- they'll never completely be gone. And I think it's sadly safe that both franchises are not nearly as well respected as they were a decade or so ago, as recent entries in both franchises have been disappointing.

But as they pause, they're worth looking at. It's probably a worthy debate whether Science Fiction television or film are better because of either series -- for every positive point I can also think of negatives. But right now, I think, isn't the time to focus on those negatives. Both Stars deserve a lot of credit for inspiring many people over the years -- and while both are occasionally mocked by "real" Science Fiction fans and the general public alike, I think the massive appeal of both series has been key to popularizing science fiction and fantasy generally, and so it's not really unusual to enjoy science fiction and fantasy anymore...

Labels: startrek

One of my favorite SF websites, Tachyon TV has a great lead article concerning what more than a few SF fans are really thinking about the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise.

That said, this is really the best season of Trek in quite a while -- but I think the fundemental problems with Star Trek require a complete fresh start...

Labels: startrek

This week's Galactica was, to some extent, something very retro. It's difficult, I don't think I really want to go into spoiling episodes to any great detail as I comment on any television episodes here. But this episode was, in many respects, an episode at the surface is the most like either the original Galactica, or for that matter, other space series. But the execution of the episode, as always, is one way that makes this series so particularly good. And the revelations about the Cylons were especially fascinating.

"Home" has been a bit of a theme in my weekend's entertainment. I went to see In Good Company over the weekend, the Dennis Quaid/Topher Grace/Scarlett Johansson movie. Obviously, any movie that contains a Peter Gabriel song will get my indulgence, and a movie that plays Solsbury Hill in the fashion that this movie does will especially get my indulgence. I was surprised that it wasn't as much of a romantic comedy as I had initally expected, and that made me a bit happier about the movie, even as the movie gave me other things to think a lot about.

Of course, to prove that there is no justice, I wasted a few moments of my life watching the Paris Hilton Saturday Night Live episode, and it wasn't during the sci-fi sketch where she's in a hat and scarf. [Outpost Gallifrey has it on their news page as I'm writing this, though it'll roll off eventually, I'm sure.]

And to return to Galactica, Ron Moore's blog has an interesting entry about the future of Star Trek. While I think Enterprise was in trouble long before the new Galactica started, I think that Galactica outperforming Enterprise was the final signal to the executives that the latest Trek wasn't capturing the imagination -- even of its core audience -- in the way that it used to.

Labels: galactica, startrek